Shane Buettner

Projector Reviews
Sim2 Grand Cinema HT3000 Front Projector: Coming Attraction
Shane Buettner  |  Sep 12, 2006  |  Published: Sep 13, 2006
  • $15K
  • 1920x1080 single-chip DarkChip3 DLP
  • Key Connections: Dual HDMI and component inputs
Features We Like: 1080p, full 10-bit BrilliantColor processing by TI, 7-segment color wheel , advanced color management system, vertical lens shift
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Projector Reviews
Optoma H81 Front Projector: Coming Attraction
Shane Buettner  |  Sep 12, 2006  |  Published: Sep 13, 2006
  • $6K
  • 1920x1080 single-chip DarkChip3 DLP
  • Key Connections: TBD
Features We Like: 1080p on the cheap!, other features TBD
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Projector Reviews
Marantz VP-11S1 Front Projector: Coming Attraction
Shane Buettner  |  Sep 12, 2006  |  Published: Sep 13, 2006
  • $19,995 (22,995 with optional long throw lens)
  • 1920x1080 single-chip DarkChip3 DLP
  • Key Connections: Dual HDMI and component inputs, one RGB/PC on 15-pin DSUB
Features We Like: 1080p!, full10-bit broadcast-grade processing by Gennum VXP, accepts 1080p signals, high-end lens assembly from Konica/Minolta, vertical lens shift
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Panasonic TH-42PX60U Plasma: On the Bench
Shane Buettner  |  Sep 12, 2006  |  Published: Sep 13, 2006
  • $2,499
  • 42" Plasma
  • 1024x768
  • Key Connections: Two HDMI and two component video inputs, SD card slot
Features We Like: Excellent connectivity with dual HDMI and component inputs, Over-the-Air and cableCARD HD tuners,
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Samsung HP-S6373 Plasma: Coming Attraction
Shane Buettner  |  Sep 12, 2006  |  Published: Sep 13, 2006
  • TBD
  • 63" Plasma
  • 1366x768
  • Key Connections: Dual HDMI and dual component inputs, RGB/PC input,
Features We Like: BIG plasma screen!, 13-bit processing, excellent connectivity with dual HDMI and component inputs, Over-the-Air HD tuner,
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LCD TV Reviews
Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR2 LCD
Shane Buettner  |  Sep 12, 2006
  • $4,299
  • 46" LCD
  • 1920x1080
  • Key Connections: Dual HDMI and component inputs, RGB/PC on 15-pin DSUB
Features We Like: Full 1080p, accepts native1080p signals, selectable color gamuts, Sony's latest and greatest (DRC version) 2.5 video processing, ambient light sensor adjusts panel light output to match room light, OTA HD tuner, built-in speakers, optional colored bezels, and more!
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LCD TV Reviews
Sharp AQUOS LC-37D40U LCD
Shane Buettner  |  Sep 12, 2006
  • $2,300
  • 37" LCD
  • 1366x768
  • Key Connections: Two HDMI inputs, two component video inputs
Features We Like: Excellent connectivity with dual HDMI and component inputs, Over the-Air HD tuner, ambient light sensor adjusts image brightness to match room light, backlit remote
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Last Samurai HD DVD
Shane Buettner  |  Jul 25, 2006  |  Published: Jul 26, 2006

<I>The Last Samurai</I> is a movie that succeeds more than I expected it to in spite of Tom Cruise giving one of the worst performances of all time by an actor of his stature (and I’m not referring to his diminutive height here). I didn't see <I>Samurai</I> in the theater because I was repelled by its marriage of subject matter and star. And no, I'm not a Tom Cruise hater at all. I just had a hard time imagining him in a Samurai picture of any kind. And even my lowered expectations didn't prepare me for how laughably unconvincing Cruise is here as the adrift Civil War hero Nathan Algren. Cruise's performance is all the more frustrating because the man can be nothing short of brilliant when he wants to be (see <I>Born on the Fourth of July</I>, <I>Magnolia</I> and even <I>Interview with the Vampire</I> for proof positive).

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Cinderella Man HD DVD
Shane Buettner  |  Jul 25, 2006  |  Published: Jul 26, 2006

Before there was <I>Rocky</I> there was, in real life, James J. Braddock. Braddock was a respectable fighter and contender in the late 20's who fell on extremely hard times during the depression. He was reduced to poverty like so many millions of Americans and barely put food on this family's table between boxing and working the docks. In the mid-30's he went on the right winning streak at the right time, culminating in his capturing the heavyweight title in 1935. Offering some idea of what an underdog Braddock was in his title bout with Max Baer, he entered the ring that night with the very pedestrian record of 44 wins and 23 losses. The "Cinderella Man's" story inspired millions, not to mention the impact it's had on sports movies over the decades.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Unforgiven HD DVD
Shane Buettner  |  Jul 25, 2006  |  Published: Jul 26, 2006

"It was whiskey done it, much as anything else." So says William Munny (Clint Eastwood), a man of notoriously vicious and mean disposition, when asked how he killed so many men so easily in his younger years. <I>Unforgiven</I> deconstructs the myth of the western gunman, a character Eastwood himself played to such great effect earlier in his career.
This is a bleak film to be sure, one in which the kindest characters are inflicted with the cruelest fates. In westerns we typically see some rough form of justice meted out by the gunman/hero, and we cheer when the bad guys "get what's coming to them." According to Eastwood's Munny, "we all have it comin."

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